S373 – The fight is not over yet…
Today, like many of you, I got my USARK member email blast. S373 is coming back to the Environment and Public Works committee for mark-up. This is where things are amended, voted on and moved forward. This bill could be attached to something more important nationally to help get it to pass. This is crunch time.
Like a lot of reptile keepers, I’m worried about reaching out to the media, which is typically ignorant of our hobby and our animals, and prone to write sensationilistic and inaccurate stories about them.
I spoke about those concerns this morning in a phone conversation with board member Jeff Ronne, and he told me that the lobbyists feel this is the best way to get the word out beyond the reptile community and into the homes of average Americans.
USARK has a great pre-written letter. If you’re comfortable with it, you merely need to fill in the right side with your contact information and hit submit. You can also edit it to use your own words — remember to be polite! This letter will go to numerous press outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News and the Washington Post.
The President is the final step into making this bill a law. President Obama has stated he’s concerned about American jobs and that he wants to hear from citizens, so let’s all take a few moment to let the President know how this will effect our industry.
Last, I suggest we keep the calls and faxes coming to the Environment and Public Works committee. Faxes and calls remind them we are watching. I know this is a stressful and tiresome project, but for anyone who keeps just one ball python to someone who breeds pythons on a large scale, we all need to take steps to ensure that reptiles as pets will remain legal in our country.
If you haven’t already read them, the transcripts of the hearings from last week are located on our Herp Law and Cities forum.
This is not the time to give up, this is the time to make the fight stronger.
